As a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ("APEC") Cross-Border Privacy Rules ("CBPR") System since March 2020, the Philippines expressed its support for the creation of the Global CBPR Forum ("Forum"), which seeks to promote interoperability of different regulatory approaches to data protection and privacy. This is in furtherance of the National Privacy Commission’s vision of upholding the right to privacy in the age of accelerated digitalisation.
Among the objectives of the Forum is to establish an international certification system based on the CBPR and Privacy Recognition for Processors ("PRP"), albeit separate and independently administered from other APEC systems.
The APEC CBPR System is a voluntary, accountability-based, government-backed data privacy certification, endorsed by economies like Canada, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and USA. It enjoins economies and certified companies to demonstrate compliance with internationally-recognised data privacy standards for cross-border data transfers. Participants of the CBPR System agreed to the implementation of 50 CBPR program requirements as baseline protections across different legal regimes. The CBPR System then grants certifications to companies that are able to demonstrate its compliance to an "Accountability Agent" (an independent CBPR-recognised entity with investigative/adjudicatory powers). Subject to monitoring, certified companies must show that they can provide security safeguards for personal data that are proportional to the probability and severity of threatened harm as well as the confidential or sensitive nature of the information. Meanwhile, the APEC PRP System is a certification designed for data processors.
APEC CBPR and PRP certifications will continue to be provided through APEC-approved Accountability Agents until further notice. The founding members of the Global CBPR Forum that are currently participants of these APEC systems which plan to transition into the Forum must provide at least 30 days' notice to their Accountability Agents. All approved Accountability Agents and certified companies under the APEC systems will automatically be recognised in the new Forum. The Forum is also open to other jurisdictions that accept its principles.
